The Power of Two

Rolling Stone’s Readers’ Poll on The 10 Greatest Duets of All Time definitely reminds us that magic can happen when two great musical forces are combined.  With the exception of Sonny and Cher - and (sort of) Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell - most of the recordings listed were one-offs, which only adds to their appeal. 

Personally, I’m kinda partial to Bowie’s duet with Bing Crosby on The Little Drummer Boy, but I get why it’s not on the list.  A lot of Blues greats have done the duet thing too:  Hooker, Buddy Guy, B.B., Clapton.  Lots of magic on those records.

Anyway, you gotta dig it when great artists who respect each other collaborate.  You can almost feel their joy.

Say What?

I can’t decide if this list of 10 Misinterpreted Song Meanings is funny or frightening.

Sting’s ultimate stalker song (Every Breath You Take) is frequently misconstrued as a sweet love song?  Really?  Bohemian Rhapsody is about AIDS even though AIDS didn’t exist yet?  Huh?  Born In The USA is chest-thumpingly patriotic?

What?  Hey, are these people even listening to the words?

Maybe the scariest one, though, is Hotel California.  I mean, I’m not the sharpest pencil in the box, but I got right away that this was about material excess and the emptiness of American culture.  Sheesh!  Half the album was about that.  How did people land on devil worship?  Is this stuff just made up?

Maybe Bryan or Freddie didn’t care how you interpreted the lyrics, since they both seem to have confessed that not much thought was put into them, but I gotta think Sting, Bruce, Don and Glenn are a tad dismayed that they’re thoughtful poetry was received with less than zero thought.

Excuse me while I kiss the sky.

Drum Roll Please

They don't make drums, but Gibson put out this list of The Top 10 Singing Drummers

I'm not going to quibble with any names on the list, because anyone who can sing and play drums at the same time has my respect. I mean, I can play guitar and sing - as long as the rhythm isn't too complex - but that's just 2 hands and voice. Drummers have to keep 2 feet going too - and they can't run away from the complex rhythms. I'm in a band with a singing drummer. We all sing, and all have us have said "my instrumental part is pretty complicated, so could someone else sing this?"

Except the drummer. These guys just amaze me.

No surprise to see Levon Helm, Phil Collins or Don Henley on the list. And nice to see Ringo, but hey Gisbon, you could have shown a video of Ringo where he was actually playing the drums and not just singing.

A little surprised to see Micky Dolenz of The Monkees on the list. He did have a good voice but how much drumming did he really do? I mean, are the pickings that slim? How about Dave Clark? How about Ginger Baker? OK, it's only one song and maybe you can't call it singing but his performance of Pressed Rat And Warthog on the Cream Reunion concert is pretty darned impressive.

Not quibbling, just asking.